AUBURN, Ala. — It’s no secret left tackle Shon Coleman is Auburn’s best shot at appearing in the first day of the NFL Draft.

Surgery to repair a tear in the medial collateral ligament in his right knee in the offseason, however, has hurt his progress and ability to test for NFL teams interested in his services leading up to the draft later this month (April 28).

“He’s as raw as can be, man,” NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock said at the NFL Combine in February. “He needs snaps, he needs reps. He’s a big, long kid with gifted feet, but he’s going to struggle Year 1, I think.”

Coleman is drawing comparisons to the man he replaced at Auburn: St. Louis Rams tackle Greg Robinson. Robinson was also viewed as raw and faced criticism coming out of Gus Malzahn‘s Auburn scheme. Coleman is looked at in the same light after spending several years battling and recuperating from acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a triumphant story of will, before making his debut with the Tigers in 2013.

“You saw Greg Robinson come out of that offense who had more snaps and talent and he’s still struggling to figure the NFL out,” Mayock said. “I think this kid is going to be on a similar path. Where he gets drafted, to me, I had him in the third round coming in. Long, good feet, developmental prospect.”